Maya Hawke says the episodes for Stranger Things Season 5 are “very long” and play more like eight movies

The end of an era is coming when Stranger Things Season 5 debuts on Netflix, bringing the strange horror of Hawkins to its conclusion. Stakes are at an all-time high for the Duffer Brothers to stick the landing, lest they suffer a Game of Thrones-like crash-and-burn as fans react to the finale. Speaking with the Podcrushed podcast with hosts Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin, and Sophie Ansari, Maya Hawke, who plays Robin Buckley in the series, said fans can expect plenty to chew on as the season is massive.

“We’re making, basically, eight movies,” Hawke told the group. “The episodes are very long.”

According to Maya Hawke, Stranger Things Season 5’s production has been incredible to witness throughout 2024, with bold decisions about the show surfacing nonstop. The final season takes place roughly three years after Season 4, explaining why the Hawkins kids are all grown up and still scarred by their abnormal and traumatic past.

“They are very intense and serious about the quality of the continued writing, and so it takes a long time to write each season and a long time to shoot them.”

Speaking of episodes, we recently learned the titles of the final chapters to come, including “The Crawl,” “The Vanishing of [Name Redacted],” “The Turnbow Trap,” “Sorcerer,” “Shock Jock,” “Escape from Camazotz,” “The Bridge” and “The Rightside Up.” Everyone involved with the show is keeping details close to the chest, careful not to reveal any spoilers before what could be the most prominent series launch in Netflix history.

Stranger Things Season 5 finds character favorites returning for the show’s final bow, including Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin, Sadie Sink as Max, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, and Jamie Campbell Bower as the Freddy Krueger-like Vecna. Matthew Modine also returns as Doctor Brenner, though we don’t know how.

It’s wild how Stranger Things can disappear for years at a time, but fans continue to crave more. I guarantee that Stranger Things Season 5 will be the talk of the town when it drops, with everyone from diehard fans to keyboard warriors weighing in on the show’s final bow.

Are you excited about Stranger Things Season 5? What do you think about each episode being as long as a movie? Let us know in the comments section below.